Hello,
my new house came with 5 adult chickens and eventhough I am new to this, it’s been going very well.
About a month ago, I added 4 pullets from D2D (great service) to the flock. However, I sectioned off part of the coop and the run for the new flock. About a week ago, I decided to start letting the two flock interact and things were going well until yesterday were I found one of the new pullets on the ground in the run with blood and a large opening behind the comb on the back of the neck. From what I found online, it seems that one or more the other chickens pecked at her. I tried to save her by cleaning the wound and applying some betadine, but she died shortly afterwards.
Now I am back to separating them.
Is there anything I can do to help with the pecking?
please help if you experienced something similiar.
the experience was traumatizing.
Hey Roland! I'm so sorry you had that experience! You can try adding some boredom busters in the coop like pecking blocks (seeds held together by molasses) which they love, or hanging heads of lettuce or cabbage for them to peck at. You could add swings, little playthings that make noise when they interact with them. Hopefully this helps!
Thanks Meghan.
yep. Flock blocks are on the way. I will add the lettuce idea. They have all kinds of toys in the there.